Knitting...

As the weather get colder, there are many stalls selling all kinds of winter accessories. Yesterday, on the way to the market for groceries, i was being attracted by a stall selling knitted scarves. It was all hand made scarves with nice color. Upon asking the price, the stall owner told me that they also sell the yarn and teach the buyer how to knit. Since i have knitted 1 scarf before for myself, i decided to knit 1 for hubby this time. And i told hubby it will be his Christmas present. He pay, i knit, as a present, fair enough isn't it? meaningful as well, rite? ;D

The color i choose for hubby.
This big bulk of yarn only cost RMB 15 (enough for a scarf). Cheap? I think so.....and the knitting needle is free!


I have asked the owner to start for me, will continue knitting from here. Have to put aside my cross stitch and do the knitting first, because Christmas is at the corner. Let see how soon i can finish the scarf.

Thursday lunch @ Mian Dian Wang

Thursday, hubby go to the bank at District 25 to change his ATM card. Then we had our lunch at the Mian Dian Wang next to the bank. It's a chinese fast food chain restaurant selling mostly northern chinese foods such as noodle, dumpling, bun, pancake....There are variety of choice. Person who likes noodle and food made by flour will love it. It's outlets are almost everywhere in Shenzhen.

The self service counter where you can choose the foods you like.

The ordering form. Waiter at the counter will chopped on it when customer has selected the food they want. Numbering on the form is actually the cost of the foods.

Our choice:-

Braised pork ribs. A must try dish. Most customers selected it.

eating the rib with hand (glove provided)

"xiao long bao"

dumplings (leek stuffing)

hand made noodle

pancake

broccoli as cold dish

After the lunch, as we walked back, i bought a book full of recipes of soup making in the newly opened bookstore near our place.

Local people drink a lot of soup. They cook different types of soup with different ingredients during different seasons. They believe it provides a lot of nutrition needed and keep them healthy while the season change. Therefore, i think to be healthy always we should follow their eating culture since we live here. Plus, hubby - a real soup lover have requested to have soup for every dinner at home. This book will be a great help to me, won't have to burn my head to think of what soup to cook.....trying one recipe a day, will take 1888 days to finish all. That would be more than 5 years....... ;p

Extra rest days....Good?? Bad??

Economic crisis has affected the whole world. Companies all over the world are facing financial difficulty. Some had to wind up it's business and declared bankrupt, some which are in danger has to come out with various measure to secure the business . Those which are surviving are also taking actions, basically cost cutting measures, to strengthen their financial stability.

For that, Hubby's company has cut all the staffs OT, requesting the staffs to clear their AL, cancel the annual dinner and coming up will be compulsory leave for 2 days (this Thursday and Friday). For those who still has AL, they are allowed to compensate with it. For those who don't, it will be an unpaid leave.

All of the measures, might seem hard to the staffs, especially those local who actually rely on OT to earn more. But on the other hand, it is a merciful measure, at least they still have the job and basic salary since there are much more people out there being unemployed due to job cuts.

Talking back the 2 extra rest day hubby has, i am not sure whether to be happy. Of course when the economy is good, we should be happy that we could get extra rest days and we can actually planned for short trip. Now that the economy is so bad, every decision taken will need to think twice especially involved spending extra money. Sigh....

Anyway, so long that hubby don't have enough rest during working day, now, he could have it enough. :)

Stitching update : Water Lily #2

Recently, i have been spending most of my time stitching and this is my work after 4 weeks of stitching.

The picture is getting nicer, huh?

Now that i been stitching almost a month, but i still have 1/2 of the picture to go (another 2 flowers and a big leaf to be completed). I guess will need another 4 weeks to finish the whole picture. But it will depend on the progress.

Nowadays, i found myself hardly stop my hand when i start to stitch. First is because, i just can't wait to see the picture being filled up. Feels great to see the picture getting bigger and nicer. Secondly, when the stitching part getting bigger, it also getting more complicated. So, if i start to stitch, i will stop only when the part of same color is done. Else, if i stop in the middle for other things, i will have to spend sometime checking back the picture chart where i stopped and to continue when i get back, so that i won't follow the wrong line and stitch wrongly.

There are a few times, i was being distracted by the tv and end up i have to undo it. Lucky that each time when i found out, it's only small area which is easy to be undo. *touch wood* So whenever i stitch, i am very concentrate to prevent error. But sometimes, i felt sorry to hubby because i am kind of ignoring him when i stitch. Not purposely, is just i am too concentrate until i don't realized he is talking to me.

Wedding dinner in Hongkong

As planned, hubby brought me to his boss's wedding dinner at Hongkong on Sunday night. Together with some of hubby's colleagues, we reached the restaurant about 7.30pm. By the time we reached it's already very jolly.

Different from dinner in Malaysia, in Hongkong, there is a Mahjong section where guests who arrived early can play mahjong instead of waiting at the dinner table. Besides, there are some snacks and tea serving before the dinner starts. Won't be hungry if the dinner has to start late! :>

Around 8.30pm, the dinner starts. The dinner flow is almost the same as in Malaysia, both newlywed enter the dining hall, greet the guests and give some speech. Then, the waiters start serving the dish. I am not sure is it the host's preference or it's the culture, the dishes start with "grill piglet". Whereby in Malaysia, we usually start with a "cold dish" and the pork will be second. There are 10 dishes altogether including desserts. We had a really full meal.

In the middle of meal, the newlywed and their family go around the hall, table by table to greet the guests. But there is no "yam seng" session where the guests and the hosts screamed the loudest of them. At the end of the dinner, there are oranges serve and the guests could bring back as they wish. I believe it is served for good mean, wishing everything in luck in their culture. Other than that, each and every guest is given a "gift" as an appreciation where nowadays some people in Malaysia also doing that.

The nicely packed "gift". It's a traditional cookie.

Overall, there are not much difference for the dinner between Hongkong and Malaysia. Moreover, this is my first and only wedding dinner attended out of Malaysia so far, i am not sure whether other is the same. I am telling what i have experienced.

Saturday Day Out

Me and hubby was out for shopping at Dongmen (a famous shopping area in Shenzhen) Saturday afternoon. On our way, I suggested we drop by at the Holiday Plaza (Shenzhen Metro-Shijie Zhichuang Station) to have our lunch.

Holiday Plaza, a newly open mall, with lots of branded boutique.

We had our lunch at "Dai Ka Lok" (Cafe de Coral), a Chinese fast food chain restaurant. It is one of our favorite restaurant during day out. We can easily find its outlet at most of the famous shopping area in Shenzhen and Hongkong.

Entrance of the restaurant with menu on the wall.

My order : Spaghetti in Italian tomato sauce with fried pork chop and coke

Hubby's : Thai style balacan fried rice with pork chop and lemonade soda

The food look nice? It is nice indeed. It's also cheap. It only cost RMB 26 each set. Imagine you are in a shopping mall selling CK, Armani, Boss, Burberry and etc....but you only need to pay about RMB 50 for a 2 persons meal. Great, isn't it?

At night we had our dinner at a so called Hongkong Style restaurant ("Char Chan Teng" in Cantonese) at Luohu Metro station. I forget its name but it is located at the Lower Ground Floor.

Our orders:-

Hokkien fried rice

Wanton noodle

Fried broccoli

complimentary soup for the rice

The dinner look nice as well, but it is too salty. And it is more costly, about RMB 80 for the meal. Noticed the "bowl" they used to serve the soup? It's chapped! (only found in typical local restaurant).

Compared both, "Dai Ka Lok" definitely a restaurant worth countless visits, for it's food (variety and delicious), price (cheap and worthy) and environment (nice interior), although it is very crowded at some of it's outlets.

Wedding Invitation

Hubby got a wedding invitation. There is an interesting part. There is a red packet came with the wedding invitation. It's a culture in Hongkong that they give out red packets when they invite people to attend their wedding. It's actually for good mean, because red packet is call "Lai Shi" in cantonese, which means smooth in everything. Through that they hopes everything is smooth for the event.

This is a very first time we will be attending a non-Malaysian wedding dinner in a foreign place. Apart from the invitation, i am wondering will there be any other cultural differences. Am looking forward to check it out......


When we left college, busy with everyday routine, work and family, we no longer have much time to hang out with friends. The parties get lesser and lesser and it's getting harder to gather with friends due to lots of reason. Then, we start receiving wedding invitation from friends. We mark down the date, adjust our schedule and make sure we are available on the day to greet our friend personally. And we realized, wedding dinner has become a gathering event. We get to meet up with friends who has lost contact, who live at another town, who is busy all the time...... I have such a long time never attend to any wedding ceremony or dinner. Feel bad that we have missed lots of friend's big event since we have stationed in SZ. And i missed the time meeting and gossiping with friends.

To all couple,

Happy Ever After.....

007: Quantum of Solace

Me and hubby went for a movie 007 on Sunday night at the cinema opposite our place. It's not a cinema actually, a showplace instead. Sometime, it will be occupied by organizations or schools for performance. But, there is movie showing from time to time in the only theatre. Since the ticket is cheaper than other cinema and it is near to our place, so it is a choice of place for movie.

The movie, like any other 007 movies, is a heroic story with beauty, luxury cars and hotels plus lots of dangerous chasing and bombing scene, nothing really special. However, i am shame to said that there are some parts of story i don't really understand. I am not sure is it my problem or the movie, perhaps the censored parts are the missing link (the local authority has censored quite some part of the movie). Will check it out since hubby said he will buy a unrated dvd version later. :)

As for the 007, i still prefer Pierre Bosnan. Pierre Bosnan has some sort of attractiveness which Daniel Craig doesn't have. Craig is also good looking, but he doesn't look like one from upper-class which i assumed James Bond is. I think he is more suitable to play as a normal brave cop. This is only what i feel, nothing personal. If you like Daniel Craig more, please don't get angry.....

Fruits...

Ever seen these 2 fruits before? I have never seen them at any markets in Malaysia. But all of us know their name and i believe most have tasted them by another way instead of fresh fruits. The green one is Chinese dates whereas the red one is Hawthorn.

The specific name for this Chinese dates is "Winter Red Dates", "Dong Hong Zhao" in mandarin. I was wondering why it is call red dates when it is actually green. The local told me it will turn red slowly especially after basking under the sun. Most of us surely have tasted the dried red dates since Chinese always use it to make soup. But a fresh one? These fresh dates taste sweet. The texture very much like an apple but drier, not juicy. Quite nice to eat fresh.

turning red after weeks of basking....

Hawthorn, i got the name from dictionary because never known what it's call in english. In mandarin we call it "San Za". I was first attracted by it's beautiful color in the market. We always eat the "San Za Pian" (hawthorn slice) which is after processed and never know how is the fruit look like. Now i realised, it looks beautiful. The fruit taste very sour like plum but not juicy at all. The texture also like an apple, a soften apple. I am not sure i have bought the sour one or that is it's original taste, but it is not nice to eat fresh, too sour. I prefer the "San Za Pian". :P

Spring-clean

Wonder why our room always has lots of dust. I have reduced open up the window facing main road in our room, but it's still get dusty easily. Really wonder where those dust come from. Is it higher floor (we stay at 20th floor) easier to become dusty?? Although there is cleaner coming everyday to clean the house, but that's not enough. She is only cleaning the surface. She only sweep or mop wherever our legs will step.

I decided we had a spring clean in our room, yesterday. We move all the things out and did a thorough clean, from top to bottom, beneath the bed and desk. Hubby is a great help. Don't think i could do it without him. It's tiring but feels great, cleaning our room together.

It's winter!

According to lunar calendar, it's first day of winter yesterday. Today, the weather starts getting cold. I am no sure it is an impact of global warming, weather only starts getting cold on winter in a 4 seasons country. It's like there are only 2 seasons in a year, summer and winter, and there is no autumn anymore. So sad....

It's still a hot sunny day with 30 over degree yesterday afternoon but today we are wearing long sleeves and pants. I just love such weather, pleasantly cold breeze with slight sun. However, it's quite cold at night especially when there is strong wind. A thin jacket will be necessary.

Wonder how long will this weather carry on before it starts getting colder and colder. Hmmm.....I will have to tidy up our wardrobe, packing the summer clothing and unpack the winter clothing, getting ready for the cold.

Stitching update: Water Lily

My work after 1 week of stitching. I have finished quite a lot, huh? Not really....

Yesterday, hubby praised that i am doing quite fast and asked how long i expect to finish the whole picture. Then i told him about 2 weeks time by looking at the picture. A moment later, i suddenly remember, there are 2 pages of it. So, actually i am just finishing a small part, 1/5 of it i think.....Still a long way to go...

I am kind of addicted to it now, sometimes i am just too concentrate until i forget its time to cook... ;D

It gives me a great satisfaction when i see those blank part being filled up slowly.

Terrific Chicken Pox

Last Thursday, hubby found 2 red spot on his lap due to itchiness. The red spot is with "bubble" in the middle. Then i remembered it looks like the chicken pox, which i had infected during primary age. Later that night, he found another 2 similar spot on his same lap. I started to suspect hubby was infected with chicken pox, since he hasn't been infected before. Hubby was uneasy about it, he don't wish to be infected.

The next day, i checked on internet for chicken pox do and don't. And i found out despite the spots on hubby's lab looks similar, no other symptoms matched. Hubby doesn't fever. He only got a bit heaty and headache. His spot isn't start from body or face and doesn't spread all over on the following days. It just remained as 4. Then i was confused. Is it chicken pox? How come it isn't spreading?

Hubby is quite unhappy when i have those questions. Of course i don't really wish he was infected. But i thought it is no harm since one will be infected once in a life time. Besides, i heard the older you got it the more suffer. So, if he is infected just relax, nothing to be terrified. I doubted because we don't know whether to treat it as chicken pox.

On Sunday, hubby decided that he has to go to clinic at Hongkong. He needs it to be treated. Finally, the doctor confirmed it wasn't chicken pox. Doctor said it was some kind of virus caused skin allergic. He gave hubby some medicine and request hubby to return for consultation if he doesn't get well within 5 days. Hopes he could get well without seeing the doctor again.